Legos and Juice Boxes
by SupremeMotherHen
Summary: 6 year old Jamie Moriarty and Mary Morstan battle for Joan Watson's attention.


"Ready. Set."

"Wait!" Mary chimed in, before the end of the countdown, when a thought hit her.

"What is it now, Mary?" Jamie placed her hands on her hips and began tapping the tips of her shoes, impatiently. It's a move she learned from her mother long ago. A clear show of annoyance.

"You're not supposed to do the countdown! My mommy watches races all the time and they always have a counter. They have to countdown and then shot their gun. You're not supposed to count if you're in the race!"

"Fine!" Jamie relented, rolling her eyes. "Which one of you can count?" She addressed the crowd of first graders surrounding her and Mary, on the play mat. A little hand in the back shot up eagerly and its owner began pushing their way to the front of the crowd.

"I can count!" Sherlock told the two of them, excitedly. "I can do it in three languages, too! I can do it now. Do you want to hear?"

"Do you have a gun?" Mary questioned. She wanted to do this the right way.

"No but," Sherlock placed the tortoise in his left hand at his feet and began searching his pockets. He pulled out a few crayons, some string, turtle pellets and a few coins before finding what he was looking for. "I have these poppers!"

"Fine. That will do." Jamie was losing her patience by the second. "Can we start now?"

"Okay!" Sherlock wet his lips with his tongue before starting the count. "On your mark." Jamie and Mary stood in front of their respected piles of Legos. "Get set." They grabbed a few and moved into a starting position. "Go!" Sherlock yelled and threw the popper at the ground as hard as he could. After the loud pop, Jamie and Mary were off building their Lego towers.

Mary worked faster but Jamie worked smarter. Mary piled and haphazardly connected the pieces in random, chaotic order. Meanwhile, Jamie worked methodically. She calmly and swiftly connected her pieces thoroughly and build a sound structure. Mary's tower was far bigger, but it was noticeably leaning to the right, where Mary placed most of the pieces. Noticeable to Jamie, at least. There were not enough pieces on the left to act as a counterbalance. The crowd was oblivious to this and cheered Mary on as loud as they possibly could. They didn't know what the two were playing for but they were happy for the excitement of the competition. It was only a matter of time until Mary's eagerness was her undoing. Until then, Jamie committed to working as efficiently as possible. Her tower was gaining height at a steady pace while retaining its balance. Mary's leaned more with each additional piece.

With a loud crunch, Mary's Lego tower, finally, fell over to the right. Pieces were strewn everywhere and the crowd began to cheer at the collapse of the giant tower. First graders were easily amused, Jamie thought. It was hardly even an impressive fall. Nothing about this Mary was impressive, not even her failures. All of which is why Jamie mused that she deserved this win.

Sherlock moved to grip her arm, raising it in the air and proclaiming, "Jamie Moriarty for the win!"

Jamie received some congratulations from the rest of her classmates and a few pats on the back. Mary received a few sympathetic hugs and well wishes from other classmates. They both proceeded to clean up the Legos and place them into their designated bins. Jamie's smile never left her face. Mary's slight pout did nothing to put a damper on her mood.

Once the toys were cleaned and the crowd dissipated, it was lunchtime. Jamie retrieved her lunchbox from her cubby and went to claim her prize. She made sure she was the last one out of the classroom so that she could take a moment to collect her thoughts. This was a very important moment for her. Possibly that most important moment of her life and she won it fair and square. Taking a deep breath, Jamie held her chin up high, just like her father taught her, smoothed any wrinkles out of her skirt and walked to the lunch tables.

Joan Watson was seated at the head of her class' lunch table, with her friend, Sherlock on her left side. Across the table from Joan was the empty spot that Jamie won in the Lego building races with Mary. It was a prime location to eat lunch. There was a tree nearby that provided adequate shade, it was the closest table to the swing set, furthest from the rancid garbage cans and most importantly, it was Joan's favorite table to sit at.

Jamie made her way over to her spot. She made sure to glare at Mary, who was seated at the opposite end of the table and smiling as if her defeat didn't matter much to her. Joan smiled as Jamie climbed into the seat, adjacent from her. There was a spot of strawberry jam smeared on her cheek and it only served to make Jamie smile even harder than she already was. She opened her lunchbox and began placing her spread of fruit, crackers and juice on the table. Then she placed a napkin, daintily in her lap.

"Hello Joan Watson."

"You can just call me Joan if you want. Or Joanie, everyone calls me that." Joan wiped her mouth and the strawberry jam off or her face. Jamie tried not to frown at that, she thought it was kind of cute. "Just not Watson, Sherlock is the only one allowed to call me that."

"Okay, Joanie. I'm Jamie." Jamie extended her hand to Joan.

Joan stared at the hand, confused about what she was supposed to do with it. She thought it might be a British thing so she turned to Sherlock, the only other Brit in the class, for guidance. He shrugged at her and continued eating his orange slices. Joan reluctantly reached out and gave it a slap in an attempt at a high-five. The move was perplexing but the contact shot electricity all the way through Jamie's arm. She pulled it back gingerly and hid her face behind a curtain of her hair before anyone could spot the blush she knew was creeping up to her cheeks.

The conversation stalled there for the rest of the lunch. Jamie was suddenly too nervous to speak or even look directly at Joan and Joan wasn't sure what to do, so they settled for shy smiles and shared space. Jamie would have been embarrassed but this lunch was the most exciting experience she had ever had. It was better than the time her mother bought her that expensive dress with the bow on the back. It was better than the family trips to Paris, Spain and South America. It was on par with the paints, brushes and easel that she received on her sixth birthday.

It would have been perfect if Mary understood that she was not wanted at Jamie's end of the table. But that irritating insect decided that her presence was necessary. To make matters even worse, she can bearing gifts.

"I saved this piece of lettuce from my sandwich for Clyde." Mary placed, what looked to be a crisp piece of lettuce in front of Sherlock. He immediately grabbed it and placed it inside of the box which housed his tortoise, Clyde.

"I heard you like white grape juice too and my mom always packs and extra so…" Mary placed a juice box in front of Joan. She scuffed her shoes on the ground, waiting for any feedback from Joan.

"You're the only other person here that loves white grape juice too! Everybody else says its gross. Thanks." Joan gave Mary a quick smile and proceeded to punch the straw through the opening. She took a long sip and relished the taste. "We can be grape juice buddies or something." Joan's eyes met Mary's for a second but they giggled and looked away.

"I guess so." Mary's eyes were glued to the ground.

"We can swing together at recess, if you want." Joan's offer had Jamie seething from her spot across the table. Why wasn't she getting any swing set invitations?

"Yeah. That sounds fun." Mary could feel Jamie's scowl but she hated conflict so she did her best to ignore it. She didn't understand why Jamie hated her. They had never even talked to each other until earlier that day when Mary mentioned sitting with Joan at lunch. Then came the stupid Lego building contest that she lost. Her day was getting weirder by the second.

Jamie glared at her for the rest of the day. Every time Mary turned around, Jamie was staring daggers at her. It was uncomfortable. It would have been scary if Mary wasn't noticeably taller and stronger but she hoped whatever Jamie's problem was would not result in an actual fight. She was only comfortable hitting the punching bags at her kickboxing class. She even refused to spar with any of the other students for fear of hurting anyone.

During their art period, Jamie hoarded all of the purple crayons. Everyone knew that was Mary's favorite color; she wore the color every day. If Mary was going to be moving in on her Watson, she would commandeer all of the purple in the room if she had too. That'll show her. Much to Jamie's chagrin, Mary told the teacher, Mr. Gregson, on her which resulted in her being placed in the timeout corner for ten minutes.

It was there, in that corner, that Jamie devised her plan. She was going to get Mary kicked out of the class. Once she was gone, Jamie would fill the void in Joan's life with her own presence. It seemed like a full proof plan. It's like the time her mother had her father's secretary deported because they were naked hugging at his office. Whatever that was. All that was left was to find a way to make it happen. That part could be left to figure out at a later date. First, she needed to stock up on white grape juice boxes.


End file.
